Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

body. He would be the one to tell her what he saw when he looked at her, not Ryland. He didn't have stories about love and hope, but this question he could answer. "When I look at you," he said fiercely, "I see a woman who has fought bravely to save herself. A woman with courage, who, despite all that she's dealing with, still has the ability to fight for hope and faith." He tightened his grip on her as her eyes fluttered open and she met his gaze. "I have no hope in my life," he admitted. "I kill to save the world, an endless spiral with no answers, and yet you touch my soul in a way I didn't know was possible."
    Kane. She set her hand on his arm. That's beautiful.
    He felt himself falling into the blue of her eyes, tumbling so fast he couldn't stop himself and didn't want to. He took her hand in his, tangling their fingers together. "In you, I see a beauty and a purity that exists nowhere else in this world." He didn't just see it. He'd felt it from that first moment, a depth to his soul that he hadn't accessed in so long. "I don't know anything about you," he acknowledged, "but you're like this burst of humanity into my soul that I never thought I would feel."
    Sarah's eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. "You have such passion," she said. "I forgot what that was like." She rested her palm against his cheek, her fingers still trembling.
    Rightness cascaded through Kane, and he set his hand over hers, holding her palm against his skin. The moment stilled, intensity filling him with such desire and need for her that it physically hurt. He could feel the thud of his heart in his chest, the rush of blood through his veins, and the burning of fire in every cell of his body. It was agonizingly painful, as if his entire being was fighting to come alive, to tear down the walls that had kept it locked down for so long.
    He swore, tightening his grip on her as the darkness that had been chasing him for so long roared to life, trying to suck him away from this place that Sarah had brought him to. Agonizing loss assailed him, terror at losing this sense of humanity she'd given him. He didn't want to retreat back into a place where he didn't feel, where he couldn't hear his own heartbeat. He wanted to stay in the light with Sarah.
    Her eyes widened, and she tightened her grip on him. "What's happening to you?"
    "I don't know," he rasped out, fighting at the onslaught of darkness, against the void struggling to consume him. It felt like the closer he got to connecting with Sarah and his humanity, the stronger the darkness inside him became. A battle for his soul.
    "It's happening again, isn't it?" Ryland was beside him again, his face intense. "What the hell is it, Santiago?"
    "I don't know." Kane's back bowed from the pain, and his soul screamed in protest as the blackness swirled through him. "Son of a bitch—"
    The air pressure shifted, and Kane instinctively threw himself over Sarah, reacting to the threat even before he'd had time to register what it was. He pinned her to the ground as a sickle careened through the air and slammed into his shoulder, right where her head had just been.
    Ryland leapt to his feet with a battle roar, while Kane shielded Sarah with his body as dozens more weapons hurtled through the air, slamming into his back in an attempt to harm her. "What the fuck's going on?" He cradled his arms around her head, blocking her with his shoulders as he shouted at Ryland. Sarah curled beneath him, accepting his protection and burrowing into the shield he was offering her.
    "Remember those honeymooners from Hollywood?" Ryland grunted, as if he were striking hard against the assailant.
    Oh, yeah, Kane remembered the rogues with the manicures. "Yeah, why? Did they come back to life or something?" He grimaced as another blade slammed into his back, and he tucked Sarah more tightly under him, trying to cover every inch of her trembling body. He needed to get up and help Ryland fight, but he couldn't move away from her. Every blade was coming for her, not him. Outrage surged through him at the realization that their assailants were trying to attack her. Who the hell took on an innocent woman?
    "Apparently, they have a big ass family and the reunion is here," Ryland said.
    Damn. More rogues? Where were they coming from?
    It's my brother, Sarah said, her face buried against Kane's chest . He's trying to destroy me.
    Your brother? And to think I always wanted to know who my family was. Kane turned his head